There had been a sense for months that a storm was gathering over the American economy. The clouds darkened more than a year ago, when the housing market fell in on itself, followed by the implosion of investment houses such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and the serial bailouts of AIG, Citigroup and the rest.

Now, average Americans are caught in this maelstrom, too, and it looks to be a nasty one that will require a strong hand from government.

The Labor Department says non-farm payrolls plummeted 533,000 in November — the largest decline since December 1974. In just three months, the economy has shed 1.2 million jobs. The unemployment rate rose slightly to 6.7 percent, which vastly underestimates the pain; if the underemployed are counted, the rate is more than 12 percent.

Congress should craft a far-reaching economic stimulus package that President-elect Barack Obama can sign upon taking office. That package should include increased aid for food stamps and the unemployed, aid to states and generous spending on jobs-producing infrastructure projects — the roads, bridges and rail links that need to be replaced or refurbished anyway — as well as clean energy projects.

There are steps that can be taken before that. The government should move to rework the mortgages of deserving borrowers who are in trouble. A stunning 10 percent of home borrowers were either delinquent or in foreclosure in the third quarter.

And the government can set strict guidelines for the Detroit Three automakers. They likely will be back for more money in March, even after what appeared to be a deal between Congress and the White House on Monday to release $15 billion of previously committed loans.

The government should attach real conditions to any help — not gimmicks such as demanding cuts in executive pay or the like, which do nothing to force change. Before receiving aid, the companies first should file for a prearranged bankruptcy, be required to meet higher fuel-efficiency standards and be put under an independent advisory board. Top management must go.

Obama has been cool and steady as the tempest has swirled around him. He quickly assembled an experienced team of economic advisers, forcefully advocated for a stimulus bill and sketched its broad outlines. But it will be six weeks before he takes office, and there is little else he can do but wait out the final days of a debilitated administration that even now seems to deny the seriousness of the storm at hand.

REPRINTED FROM THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL.